Champions For Life: The Power Of A Father's Blessing

9780757302503

0757302505

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Summary

Retired NFL player, founder of Champions for Life and one of the most respected ministers in the country, shares his story. I believe Champions for Life is doing very effective work bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to many lost men and women throughout America. - Billy Graham Bill Glass, founder of Champions for Life, one of the most respected ministries in the country, shares the powerful message he has been preaching for decades: the most important thing a father can do is to bless his child. Through his personal stories and teachings, Glass shows all parents how a blessing can give children the inspiration, reassurance and confidence to live life to their fullest potential. Bestowing a blessing requires simply a gentle touch, a loving hug and/or a powerful verbal message of unconditional love. Glass has learned through the work of his ministry that we live in a time when the youth of America suffer from a lack of positive mentors - the result is broken families, divorce at epidemic rates, rampant drug and alcohol abuse, overfilled jails and prisons, and thousands of at-risk youth. In Champions for Life, readers will learn the solution to many of these problems begins in the home and is the cornerstone to our childrens development and strength of character for our future leaders. The most basic family building block is a parent's ability to give a blessing and Glass shows readers how doing this will change the lives of their children, as well as their own.

Table of Contents

Introduction

ix

Acknowledgments

xix

Catching a Father's Blessing

1

(10)

The Curse

11

(18)

The Bubble of Emptiness

29

(10)

Words Do Matter

39

(16)

Every Child Deserves a Blessing

55

(12)

The Secret to the Blessing

67

(14)

Battling Rejection with a Blessing

81

(18)

We All Need a Spiritual Father

99

(12)

Be a Father, Not a Coach

111

(14)

Avoid Mixed Messages

125

(18)

Show Them Your Scars

143

(12)

Creative Blessings

155

(12)

What We Can Learn from a Blessing

167

(10)

No Excuses--Never Give Up!

177

(8)

About the Author

185

Excerpts

You may not have had a parent who blessed you, a parent who said, ôNo matter what, IÆll always love you.ö Maybe you didnÆt have a father who protected you, or a father who thought you were special and told you so. You may think, ôI didnÆt have that, but I turned out all right.ö DonÆt bet on it. Take a moment, search deep inside for a little hole in your heart that still needs to be filled. DonÆt deny the pain. The only way to heal is to first admit you are hurting. Unless you had a father bless youùor someone who stepped in and became your spiritual fatherùyou have an ache in your soul, a hole in your heart. If youÆre completely honest with yourself, you know this is true. You know it during those nights you stare at the ceiling and wonder if anyone will ever love and believe in you. Those nights when youÆre so exhausted, yet canÆt sleep. Those nights when you know something is wrong, but youÆre not sure what. ItÆs the longing for the approval of the Father, both on earth and heaven. Words matter. Words can bless or bleed. Words spoken are very hard to take back. IÆve heard parents say almost flippantly, ôYouÆre stupid.ö Or, ôDonÆt be so dumb.ö Or, ôYouÆre so irritating.ö Some parents believe these words will make the child shape up and fly right. ItÆs like a challenge, the parent saying, ôProve me wrong.ö All they do is injure the self-image of the child. What a dad whispers in a childÆs ear sounds like a scream, and the message can heal or wound. A parentÆs voice is a megaphone straight to the heart of the child. My own son, Bobby, said to me, ôRemember when you yelled at me?ö I donÆt remember it that way. I know I didnÆt yell, I only said something very quietly and calmlyùyet in his mind, that was screaming in his ear. I was always very careful never to make negative statements to my children. Even since theyÆve been adults, IÆve noticed they are very anxious to hear only positive words from me. So IÆve made an art form of saying things that lift them up, not tear them down. They are now in middle age, and they still wantùand needùa blessing from their father. Even now that I have to physically look up to my own sons. Words we heard as children can haunt us into adulthood. Words that blessed us as children can accompany us into old age, long after the person who spoke them into our lives has died. The book of John opens by telling us, ôIn the beginning was the Word.ö God spoke the world into being. Creation was accomplished through the spoken word of God. And we can speak life into the souls and hearts of our children. Words are how we are to begin blessing our children, as my own father demonstrated. He died at the age of forty-five. I was fourteen. I still remember his presence, his words, his touch, his blessing. Jim Sundberg heard me talking like this one day in a chapel service when he was playing for the Texas Rangers. He was their star catcher, and he came up to me after my message and said, ôWhat you say is true,

Excerpted from Champions for Life: The Healing Power of a Father's Blessing by Bill Glass All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.